Movie review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The new political thriller The Reluctant Fundamentalist is not unlike a new brand of margarine.

reluctant fundamentalist

MOVIE REVIEW: The new political thriller The Reluctant Fundamentalist is not unlike a new brand of margarine.

The creators obviously have the best of intentions, but cannot avoid the blandest of outcomes.

Based on the best-selling book by Mohsin Hamid, the story centres on a Pakistani academic suspected of masterminding anti-US terrorist activities in Lahore.

With the CIA about to haul Changez (Riz Khan) in for questioning, a veteran journo gets to him first and secures an exclusive interview.

There's just one condition. Bobby (Liev Schreiber) must sit there and listen to his subject's entire life story. As must we. Might be worth ordering a strong coffee at this juncture, because the yarn is a long one, and a kind of boring one as well.

The mid-section of the screenplay sees The Reluctant Fundamentalist at its most meandering, as Changez recounting his days as a high-powered financial analyst on Wall Street.

Just as his mastery of crunching numbers is about to take him to the big time, Changez must reckon with some digits that just don't add up: 9/11.

The 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center immediately impacts on what was once a privileged way of life.

After a few months of sudden harassment by police and airport officials - not to mention the discomfort his oh-so-Middle-Eastern appearance causes to colleagues and clients alike - Changez is all but radicalised into an enemy of the state.

By the time this flashbacked business is done with, most viewers will be done with the film as well. Unfortunately, there is a still a rather tacked-on race-against-time scenario to get through, which stretches proceedings well past the two-hour mark.

Though definitely well-acted and well-reasoned, there is something irreversibly inert about the tale of Changez that just cannot sustain interest across such an unnecessarily long running time.

> The Reluctant Fundamentalist [M]
Director: Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding)
Starring: Riz Khan, Liev Schreiber, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland.
Rating: 2.5/5

"He had it all, then jihad called"